an excerpt from my 09-30-2007 journal
“…Oh, I can’t believe that I almost forgot to type here that we got to take a glimpse of “Famadihana” ceremony on the way to Tessete’s home. Once Dimby saw many people gathering to do the Famadihana ceremony up high in the hill, he asked Tessete to stop and immediately, we got out of his car and hiked up a small hill where a small cemetery was. The cemetery was filled with many close and distant family members. A stone tomb’s door was being opened to retrieve the corpses of their ancestors. One by one, they are brought out wrapped in straw mats and danced above the heads in a playful tune. Then, the bodies are being re-wrapped in pristine white burial lambas (scarves) where Susie and I tried to see but there were so many members around the dead corpse during re-wrapping. I got to see the re-wrapping, but Susie didn’t dare to see it further at all. I asked Dimby on how would a family member recognize each corpse. He said that each corpse is labeled with felt-tip marker on the scarve. After a period of quiet moment where the family members hold their dead ancestors on their laps in silent communication, the corpses, again, have the last dance in the air before being re-buried in the tomb. Dimby elaborated the ritual of Famadihana and we were glad to have witnessed this old Malagasy tradition especially a 3-foot wrapped corpse ‘dancing’ in the air. Dimby’s family doesn’t do this ceremony at all as the family has moved on to modern times and wants to leave their ancestors have their own moments with the mother nature…”